Malahy, Wheaton North earn shutout
Wheaton North goalkeeper Shannon Malahy was staked to an early 1-0 lead Thursday in Wheaton, and that was all the support she needed to thwart St. Charles East in an opening-round game in the 13th annual Naperville Invitational.
Malahy stopped 9 shots en route to a 2-0 victory over the Saints as Group G play started off on the right foot for Wheaton North (8-5), getting an early lead that it would not surrender.
Midfielder Chelsea Hupp got the scoring started for the Falcons when she buried a shot off a deflection in the 36th minute for her second goal of the season to give the Falcons an early lead.
The goal seemed to awaken St. Charles East (4-6). The Saints carried the play for the majority of the first half, but Malahy stood tall and kept the lead as she denied a barrage of shots.
"I wanted to make sure that I didn't let my team down after the early goal," Malahy said. "They went out and scored and I needed to save them. We just needed to stay focused and not let our guard down."
In the 29th minute midfielder Hannah Ketterling made a great pass to forward Lauren Beyer, but Malahy was there to make the save as the Saints started pressed the attack.
In the 18th minute St. Charles East forward Kerry Savage put a shot just over the crossbar as the Saints sustained pressure trying to tie the game.
However, the Falcons seized the momentum as defender Kate Wiegman tucked a free kick in the top right corner of the St. Charles East goal in the 32nd minute, which seemed to spark the Falcons as they reassumed control of the rest of the half.
Wheaton North almost made it 3-0 on a beautiful give-and-go by forwards Ashley Oltman and Paige Fowler with just less than four minutes to go in the first half, but the shot came up just short as the Falcons took a 2-0 lead into the half.
"We were really aggressive in the beginning, then all of a sudden it kind of died down," Hupp said. "We realized toward the end of the half that we needed to put another one in because points really matter for this tournament and we definitely wanted to get as many goals as we could."
The second half saw more back and forth play until the Saints took over at the end of the second half in one desperate push to get on the scoreboard. Again Mulahy was there to seal the deal for the Falcons as she came out and aggressively challenged Saints' shooters as she did all afternoon.